A day trip to London had been arranged, culminating in a visit to the Theatre at The Tabard in Chiswick to watch a read through of 'Not Going Out', with Lee Mack and Sally Bretton.
Sadly, we waited in the pub, unaware of the queue that had formed outside and therefore didn't get in. Bit peeved to be honest, as we'd travelled up from Brighton and arrived early at the venue, but SRO Audiences have promised us priority tickets for another event, so we shall see.
But it wasn't a wasted day. We visited the Cezanne exhibition at Tate Modern, which I can recommend, even though it was much busier than I'd expected - considering it was a Tuesday in January.
Paul Cezanne's art has always fascinated me. I love the colours in his South of France landscapes. They're just so...French. When I was a child we often went camping in Agay, much further east along the French Riviera - the Esterel Massif. The colours remind me of those days.
It just so happened that I finished The Years, by Annie Ernaux on the train up to London. This lovely book is an autobiography, with a difference. I think Annie Ernaux was trying to tell the story of her life in a way that made it as much about the times she lived in as about her, and she spent a long time searching for the perfect way to write this. Although Cezanne lived about a century before her, he too seemed to be searching for a way of looking at things anew. Like Annie Ernaux, Cezanne lived through turbulent times in France (or so I gather from the Annie's book and the curator's commentary).
I recommend both the book and the exhibition which is on at The Tate Modern in London until March 12.
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